Jackie Mason retires after 47 years

Veteran stand-up comedian Jackie Mason is to retire from performing live, bringing the curtain down on his 47-year career.

The controversial funnyman, 75, has been entertaining audiences since he quit as an ordained rabbi and launched a comedy career at the age of 28.

But he’s announced plans to scale back on live shows when his current run in Britain ends, and he’ll only take to the stage with a new comedy routine “every once in a while”.

Mason tells Time Out London, “I decided to retire from doing complete weeks of shows and any sort of performance on a daily basis. To me, every show is the most important show, and to give everything requires very hard work, intense concentration and effort and time.

“It has to be new material and it always has to be fresh. It’s too draining to do that on a daily basis. I’ll still perform (in the U.S.) but it’ll be hard to find me because I’ll be performing every once in a while, here and there.”